Reverse gear delay in the morning

[lh59]

My son auto YRX has a delay of about 1-2s when I shift it to reverse gear in the morning. It is a 2007 model with 175000km on it. The transmission fluid level is at the correct level. Wondering if it is a normal thing for a car of this age. :confused:

[Freedomage]

Have you changed gearbox fluid on 160k kms?
Have you changed clutch set before?

[06YarisRS]

Both my 06 and 08 engage all gears instantaneously. I had delayed engagement and shudder in my 06 Dodge Grand Caravan at around 300 000km. Sometimes an ATF+4 fluid drain and fill/filter replacement would cure it for a while. The last time it happened, I ended up replacing the torque converter. The valve body itself tested fine.

I would start with a fluid drain and fill. It's super easy to do. If that fails, you could drop the pan, replace the filter and refill - also fairly easy to do. If that doesn't work, you could either live with it - which I couldn't do as I'm OCD about my cars' proper operation. Lastly, you could take it to a transmission shop and they might do something like a line pressure test/valve body test. Or, maybe you want to do the latter first. Over the years, I had a few pressure tests done at a local transmission shop and there was never a charge for the diagnostics which included pressure tests and a test drive with a TCM code reader hooked up.

As preventative maintenance, when I bought each of my Yari, I changed the ATF out twice using only Toyota WS fluid. On the 08, I also replaced the filter during a third fluid change and will do so with the 06 in the spring when it comes out of winter hibernation. Both of my Yaris's have around 175000 km on their odometers.

[lh59]

59083
Change the ATF last December using the Toyota WS ATF. Flush it twice with new ATF actually. The photo show the ATF dipstick level today with the engine warm up and running. The color of the ATF did not change much. My son bought the car last year and did not notice anything wrong with it. It is only when I drove his vehicle for the first time last week that I notice the reverse gear lag in the morning. Other than that, everything seems to be in very good condition. Might be just the age of the car.

[Freedomage]

I think it is normal for a semi automatic transmission.

[06YarisRS]

Well, your fluid looks brand new. I didn't notice any difference between engagement of drive and reverse in my Yaris, but I will make a point of seeing if there is a delay. Maybe it is normal.

[tmontague]

I've driven a few older work vans that had this issue, seems like she plays a role due to wear and tear of a high mileage trans.

You could buy a used trans from a recycler and cross your fingers or just live with it

[bronsin]

You’ve done everything you can do by changing the oil and filter. Now you have to decide to either sell the car or fix it should the transmission fail. If the car is in otherwise good shape I would favor The latter course especially as the transmission may not feel at all.

[kevinj93]

I just looked up the service manual, The automatic transmission specifications state that it should take no more than 1.5 seconds to engage when shifting from neutral to reverse, so 1 second is probably nothing to worry about.

PS, your 2NZ uses a different automatic transmission to the 1NZ in the YRX.

[lh59]

Good to know that 1.5s is considered normal. My 1.3 auto hatch seem to engage much faster though. The Yaris is a very reliable car. With my 1.3 hatch, the only thing I ever did is changing the engine oil once every year using any full synthetic oil that is on sale (also change ATF and coolant at 120k). Has already done 220k and it still purr like a cat. Hope my son YRX has the same reliability.:cool: